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Tag: International Court of Justice

  • Rubio Touts Trump’s Steadfast Support for Israel as it Blocks Aid to Gaza

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    Original article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

    U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (left) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) greet each other during a joint press conference in Jerusalem on February 16, 2025. (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Poll/AFP via Getty Images)

    Israel is being investigated for alleged genocide at the International Court of Justice, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a fugitive from the International Criminal Court.

    In a Tuesday phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio highlighted the Trump administration’s staunch support for Israel—which includes $4 billion in fresh fast-tracked military assistance—even as the key Mideast ally cuts off lifesaving humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the flattened Gaza Strip.

    U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce summarized Rubio’s call with the right-wing Israeli leader, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza:

    Rubio spoke with… Netanyahu to underscore that the United States’ steadfast support for Israel is a top priority for President [Donald] Trump, as shown by the recent announcement to expedite the delivery of nearly $4 billion in military assistance to Israel. The secretary thanked the prime minister for his cooperation with Special Envoy Steve Witkoff to help free all remaining hostages and extend the cease-fire in Gaza. The secretary also conveyed that he anticipates close coordination in addressing the threats posed by Iran and pursuing opportunities for a stable region.

    Rubio’s call with Netanyahu, which followed the Republican secretary of state’s visit to Israel last month, came just two days after Netanyahu’s government halted all humanitarian aid from entering Gaza. People there are reeling after 15 months of Israeli bombardment, invasion, and siege that have obliterated the coastal enclave, killing at least 48,405 Palestinians, wounding more than 111,000 others, and forcibly displacing, starving, or sickening nearly all of the strip’s approximately 2.3 million people, according to local and international agencies.

    Netanyahu said the aid suspension was carried out “in full coordination with President Trump and his people.”

    On Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened that “the gates of hell will be opened” on Gaza if Hamas, which rules the strip, does not free the dozens of Israeli and international hostages it kidnapped on October 7, 2023. Hamas has delayed their release due to what it claims are hundreds of Israeli violations of a January cease-fire agreement, including deadly attacks on civilians and the aid cutoff.

    Katz, Netanyahu, and other Israeli leaders are among those named in an incitement to genocide complaint filed in January at the ICC by Israeli attorney Omer Shatz. Israel is also under investigation for alleged genocide at the International Court of Justice.

    Bruce’s description of the Rubio-Netanyahu call does not mention the Palestinians or Gaza.

    Last month, Trump proposed a U.S. invasion and takeover of Gaza, which would be ethnically cleansed of Palestinians and transformed into what the president described as “the Riviera of the Middle East.”

    Original article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

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    Neo-Fascist Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.
    Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
    Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.

  • As Freed Palestinians Describe Torture, Trump OKs $3 Billion Arms Package for Israel

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    Original article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

    An Israeli soldier carries a U.S.-supplied 155mm artillery shell near a self-propelled howitzer deployed at a position near the border with Lebanon in the upper Galilee region of northern Israel on October 18, 2023. (Photo: Jalaa Marey/ AFP via Getty Images)

    Like the Biden administration, Trump is claiming an “emergency” in order to bypass Congress.

    As Palestinians released from Israeli imprisonment recount torture and other abuse suffered at the hands of their former captors, the Trump administration on Friday approved a new $3 billion weapons package for Israel.

    The new package, reported by Zeteo‘s Prem Thakker, includes nearly $2.716 billion worth of bombs and weapons guidance kits, as well as $295 million in bulldozers. The Trump administration said that “an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale,” allowing it to bypass Congress, as the Biden administration did on multiple occasions. However, the weapons won’t be delivered until 2026 or 2027.

    The Trump-Vance State Department just approved $3.01 billion in arms & equipment sales to Israel$2.04 billion in bombs$675.7 million in bombs & weapon guidance kits$295 million in bulldozersAdministration said "an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale," waiving congressional review

    — Prem Thakker ツ (@premthakker.bsky.social) 2025-02-28T21:56:45.465Z

    From October 2023 to October 2024, Israel received a record $17.9 billion worth of U.S. arms as it waged a war of annihilation against the Gaza Strip that left more than 170,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing and millions more displaced, starved, or sickened. Israel is facing genocide allegations in an International Court of Justice case brought by South Africa. The International Criminal Court has also issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

    Reporting on the new package came after U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Monday announced an effort to block four other arms sales totaling $8.56 billion in offensive American weaponry to Israel.

    Meanwhile, some of the approximately 1,000 Palestinians released by Israel as part of a prisoner swap described grim stories of abuse by Israeli forces. The former detainees, who were arrested but never charged with any crimes, “have returned visibly malnourished and scarred by the physical and psychological torture they say they faced in Israeli prisons,” according to The Washington Post. Some returned to what were once their homes to find them destroyed and their relatives killed or wounded by Israeli forces.

    Eyas al-Bursh, a doctor volunteering at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City when he was captured by Israeli troops, was held in Sde Teiman and the Ofer military prison in the illegally occupied West Bank for 11 months.

    “The places where we were held were harsh, sleep was impossible, and we remained handcuffed and blindfolded,” al-Bursh told the Post.

    “We endured psychological and physical torture without a single day of respite—whether through beatings, abuse, punches, or even verbal insults and humiliation,” he added.

    The Israel Defense Forces told the Post that it “acts in accordance with Israeli and international law in order to protect the rights of the detainees held in the detention and questioning facilities.”

    However, farmer Ashraf al-Radhi, who was held for 14 months—including at the notorious Sde Teiman prison in Israel’s Negev Desert—told the Post that “we witnessed all kinds of humiliation.”

    According to the newspaper:

    Radhi said he “wished for death” during his detention, which included long periods when he was blindfolded, handcuffed, andcrammed into a filthy cell with dozens of other prisoners. The 34-year-old said he had no access to a lawyer; no idea why he was there; or what, in his absence, had become of his family.

    Rahdi also said that Mohammed al-Akka, a 44-year-old detainee held with him, died last December. Al-Akka is one of dozens of Palestinian prisoners who have died in Israeli custody, some from suspected torture and, in at least one case, rape with an electric baton. A number of Israeli reservists are being investigated for the alleged gang-rape of a Sde Teiman prisoner.

    Original article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

    Neo-Fascist Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.
    Neo-Fascist Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.
    Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
    Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.

    As With Biden, Sanders Aims to Torpedo Trump’s Weapons Sales to Israel

  • Senior Israeli official says all Palestinian adults in Gaza ‘should be eliminated’

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    Palestinians inspect the damage following an Israeli airstrike on the El-Remal aera in Gaza City on October 9, 2023. Israel continued to battle Hamas fighters on October 10 and massed tens of thousands of troops and heavy armour around the Gaza Strip after vowing a massive blow over the Palestinian militants' surprise attack. Photo by Naaman Omar apaimages. licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
    Palestinians inspect the damage following an Israeli airstrike on the El-Remal aera in Gaza City on October 9, 2023. Israel continued to battle Hamas fighters on October 10 and massed tens of thousands of troops and heavy armour around the Gaza Strip after vowing a massive blow over the Palestinian militants’ surprise attack. Photo by Naaman Omar apaimages. licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

    https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/senior-israeli-official-says-palestinian-adults-gaza-should-be-eliminated

    Deputy parliament speaker Nissim Vaturi also called for the destruction of Jenin, warning that it will soon be turned into Gaza

    The deputy speaker of the Israeli parliament has called for the separation of children from their mothers and the killing of adults in Gaza. 

    During an interview with Kol BaRama radio, Nissim Vaturi called Palestinians “scoundrels” and “subhumans”, adding that this is a group of people that cannot be accepted. 

    “Who is innocent in Gaza? Civilians went out and slaughtered people in cold blood,” Vaturi said on Kol BaRama radio. 

    “They are outcasts and no one in the world wants them,” he said, adding that Israel needs to “separate the children and women and kill the adults in Gaza, we are being too considerate.

    …

    The deputy speaker, who belongs to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, also said that the occupied West Bank city of Jenin will soon turn into Gaza, saying that Palestinians released as part of the ceasefire deal should be put there “so that they can be eliminated later”.

    “Erase Jenin. Don’t start looking for the terrorists – if there’s a terrorist in the house, take him down, tell the women and children to get out,” he added. 

    …

    The violent rhetoric issued by top Israeli leaders like Vaturi has been used as evidence of Israel’s genocidal intent in its war on Gaza, which has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians and utterly devastated the enclave.

    Lawyers for South Africa used their statements at the International Court of Justice in a case accusing Israel of waging genocide in Gaza. In a preliminary judgement, the world’s highest court said South Africa’s accusation was plausible.

    …

    Original article at https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/senior-israeli-official-says-palestinian-adults-gaza-should-be-eliminated

    Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
    Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA

  • Israel Plans 1,000 New Settlement Homes as West Bank Raids Intensify

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    Original article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

    The illegal Israeli settlement of Efrat is seen in this March 30, 2024 photo. (Photo: Wisam Hashlamoun/Anadolu via Getty Images)

    “The Netanyahu government is operating on steroids to establish facts on the ground that will destroy the chance for peace and compromise,” said one group.

    Israeli authorities are planning to expand a Jewish-only settlement in the West Bank by nearly 1,000 homes, a Tel Aviv-based peace group said Sunday as Israeli soldiers and settlers escalated attacks on Palestinians in the illegally occupied territory.

    Peace Now said Israel’s Civil Administration has issued a new tender for the construction of 974 new housing units in Efrat, a Jewish-only colony located about 7.5 miles south of Jerusalem between Bethlehem and Hebron. The planned expansion will increase Efrat’s population of approximately 11,800 residents by 40% and geographically isolate Palestinian communities in the southern West Bank.

    Emboldened by U.S. President Donald Trump’s return to power, far-right members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Cabinet have vowed to annex the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967 in violation of international law.

    On Sunday, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that “the goal for 2025 is to demolish more than the Palestinians build in the West Bank,” according to Al Jazeera. This, following the largest Israeli seizure of Palestinian land in the West Bank in decades last year.

    “The Netanyahu government is operating on steroids to establish facts on the ground that will destroy the chance for peace and compromise,” said Peace Now, referring to the longtime Israeli practice of violating international law by colonizing and annexing Palestinian land to establish what one legal scholar has described as “de facto possession with the aim of attaining de jure possession.”

    Peace Now continued: “It is now clear that military action alone will not bring a solution to the conflict or security to Israel, and that ultimately we will have to reach an agreement with the Palestinians. The Netanyahu government is harming Israeli interests and torpedoing the only solution that can bring us security and peace.”

    In the United States, the Council on American-Islamic Relations said in a statement Monday that “the ongoing de facto annexation of the illegally occupied West Bank through the expansion of racially segregated illegal settlements is just one aspect of the far-right Israeli government’s ethnic cleansing of the entirety of historic Palestine and of its relentless efforts to block justice for the Palestinian people.”

    Aviv Tatarsky, a researcher at the Israel-based peace group Ir Amim, told Al Jazeera that “since the start of 2025, Israeli authorities have demolished 27 structures in East Jerusalem, including 18 residential units, in what appears to be a systematic effort to remove Palestinians from their homes while simultaneously expanding Israeli settlements.”

    The Israeli settlement population has increased exponentially from around 1,500 colonists in 1970 to roughly 140,000 at the time of the Oslo Accords in 1993—under which Israel agreed to halt new settlement activity—to more than 500,000 today. Last July, the International Court of Justice, which is also weighing a genocide case concerning Israel’s annihilation of the Gaza Strip, said that the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza is an illegal form of apartheid that must end “as rapidly as possible.”

    News of the Efrat expansion came as Israeli soldiers and settlers escalated attacks on Palestinians across the West Bank over the weekend. Occupation forces carried out raids in the towns of al-Issawiya and Salfit, near East Jerusalem, as well as the village of Nabi Saleh near Ramallah. Israeli troops also continued their siege and assault on Jenin and the Nur Shams refugee camp, where two young women, one of them pregnant, were shot dead last week.

    Armed Israeli settlers from the Mikne Avraham colony also invaded al-Minya, south of Bethlehem, wounding 16 Palestinians including a pregnant woman who was attacked with clubs and rocks, according toMiddle East Eye. The Israeli newspaper Haaretzreported Saturday that settlers sicced dogs on al-Minya residents, wounding two people.

    According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Israeli soldiers and settlers have killed 876 Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel.

    Since launching “Operation Iron Wall” on January 21, Israeli forces have killed at least 53 Palestinians across the West Bank. The Israeli offensive has forced around 40,000 people from their homes in what experts say is the largest displacement in the West Bank since more than 200,000 Palestinians were expelled during the 1967 conquest and occupation.

    Original article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

  • ‘No chance’: South Africa says won’t withdraw Israel genocide case despite Trump threats

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    This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. I

    Minister of Justice and Correctional Services of South Africa Ronald Lamola answers the questions of press members related to the public hearings of South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Netherlands on January 11, 2024 [Dursun Aydemir – Anadolu Agency]

    South Africa has vowed not to withdraw its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), despite the Trump administration’s threats and aid cut.

    There is “no chance” South Africa could withdraw the case it filed in December 2023, Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola told the Financial Times.

    “Standing by our principles sometimes has consequences, but we remain firm that this is important for the world, and the rule of law,” he added.

    South Africa was the first nation to drag Israel to the ICJ over its genocidal war on Gaza that has claimed more than 48,000 lives and reduced the enclave to rubble. A ceasefire that took hold on 19 January is currently in place.

    Last week, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order halting financial aid to South Africa in retaliation for a new land appropriation law it claims seizes property from the country’s White minority, as well as the ICJ case against Israel.

    The US also alleges that South Africa is working with Iran to “develop commercial, military and nuclear arrangements.”

    “The United States cannot support the government of South Africa’s commission of rights violations in its country or its ‘undermining United States foreign policy, which poses national security threats to our Nation, our allies, our African partners, and our interests,” the order read.

    “While we do have a good relationship with Iran, we don’t have any nuclear programmes with them, nor any trade to speak of,” Lamola said.

    South African President Cyril Ramaphosa recently signed the expropriation bill into law, which will allow the state to expropriate land without compensation if it is “just, equitable and in the public interest.”

    The government says the law aims to address apartheid’s past injustices, and that Trump’s accusations are lies, distortions and misinformation.

    According to Ramaphosa, the country was only receiving HIV/AIDS prevention funding from the US.

    After South Africa instituted proceedings against Israel alleging violations of the 1948 Genocide Convention in the Gaza Strip, several countries joined the case including Nicaragua, Colombia, Cuba, Libya, Mexico, Spain, Belize and Turkiye.

    The International Criminal Court has separately issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Trump has also sanctioned the ICC for investing Israeli officials.

    READ: Israel will stay in south Lebanon, says military spokesperson

    This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. I

    Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
    Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
    Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.
    Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.